BOYS' BASKETBALL: Bishop Donahue 72, Toronto 67

Foul shots down stretch boost Cadets

January 30, 2013

That's what Bishop Donahue coach Tom Wise said outside the locker room after the Bishops' 62-56 loss to Linsly.

After Jesse Padlow hit a 3-pointer for Donahue with 51 seconds left to tie the score at 56-56, Lavonte Hampton fouled Toddy Goodwin-Rowe as he moved the ball up court to send the Cadet to the foul line. Goodwin-Rowe's attempt was no good, but Anthony Wallace jumped in and was fouled when he grabbed the rebound. Wallace then went on to make four straight free throws and Jabri Blount added two more to close out the game.

Article Photos

Linsly’s Rashad Johnson (12) sets up a play while guarded by Bishop Donahue’s Bryce Jones (10).

''It was just an accident,'' Wise said about the foul. ''Right before then, we were fouling to put them in the 1-and-1, then we got the ball back and tied it. (Hampton) just made a mistake. We'll live with it. It was just one of those things. He played hard, he just made a mistake.''

On the other side of the court, Cadets coach James Wallace took the 'mistake' with opened arms.

''We knew Bryce Jones was a very good shooter and they found a way to get him open with about a minute left,'' he said. ''We were lucky enough that, because of the atmosphere we created by holding the ball, we were fortunate that they fouled us. Anthony made a big play on the free throw.''

It was easy for Hampton to get confused though because Linsly held onto the ball for more than a minute in attempt to close out the game.

''We knew they were really working the zone against us,'' Wallace said. ''We tried for force them to play us man-to-man or at least change them up and do something different. At that point we wanted to take care of the basketball and make good decisions. Make them come and attack and foul us, which they did.''

The Bishops (10-6) were facing an uphill battle all night after the team fell behind 10-3 early in the first quarter, but trimmed the margin slightly as they went into halftime only down five at 27-22.

Donahue then used a 9-4 run in the waning minutes of the third to come within one at 43-42 and took the lead on a Josh Miller bucket to start the final quarter.

The Cadets (9-9), however, looked like they regained control at 56-51, but a Hampton bucket and Padlow's 3 gave the visitors one last chance.

''Offensively we were just off a little bit,'' Wise said. ''But we did what we wanted to. We attacked them. We got their guys into foul trouble. We did good stuff, I can't complain.''

Hampton lead the Bishops with 15 points - 12 in the second half - while Jones and Miller finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Even with the loss, Wise believes his team's OVAC chances are still bright.

''We have Madonna Saturday and Cameron next Tuesday, and then its the cut off,'' he said. ''If we get a couple (wins), we should be locked in I would think. We're where were at and we need to just get a little bit better.''

For the Cadets, the victory puts them back at .500 and is just enough to keep their heads above water in Class 3A.

Blount led Linsly with a game-high 18 points and 18 rebounds, while Wallace, who surpassed 1,000 points in his career with a bucket in the fourth quarter, finished with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Goodwin-Rowe added six points to go along with four assists for the Cadets.